A Romantic Day at the Vineyard

Chris and I spent yesterday afternoon at Arrington Vineyards, where took a very yummy and simple picnic lunch to enjoy with a bottle of wine from the vineyard. We ate fresh mozzarella and garlic & herb goat cheese spread on crackers, pita and hummus, chilled apples, and some fabulous dark chocolate. We chose a wine called Desert Rose, which ended up going perfectly with our picnic lunch! It was a quiet day there, and the weather was warm but not overwhelming. It was so nice to relax and enjoy some quiet time together doing something special. It was also a great chance to stock up on more bottles of wine than we'd ever bought at once! Hopefully, we will make them last. :)

In other news, WE ARE MOVING! ::sigh:: Ten months after moving in, we decide to move out again. I am already collecting boxes for the big day sometime in June. We are actually moving across the street (quite literally - about 1/4 mile away) in the effort to protest the rising cost of rent and the ridiculous addendums being added to our lease next year. The good part is that we will have slightly more square footage and bigger closets. The bad part is that in addition to the actual moving process (of which I am a champion, I can assure you!), we will have to buy a washer and dryer for the first time. C'est la vie!

Twitter and CSA countdown

This is a hysterical comedy sketch about Twitter! http://current.com/items/89891774/supernews_twouble_with_twitters.htm

In other news, I cannot stand the wait until May 3rd when we get to pick up our first crop share from Avalon Acres (our CSA). They are expecting strawberries, green onions, kale, radishes, beets, etc. in the first few weeks! I truly love the experience of going to get my box each Sunday, not knowing what surprises await. It's like a little piece of Christmas excitement when you open it up to see what amazingly fresh foods you get to cook with and enjoy during the week. Heaven!


17 Days Left

Week in Review

Monday - Holy Week Madness.
Tuesday - Holy Week Madness.
Wednesday - Funeral AND Holy Week Madness (Why not throw in a couple of funerals? It's only The Busiest Week of the Year).
Thursday - Holy Week & Passover Seder Madness.
Friday - Holy Week Cramming Madness

Also visited a new apartment complex. It's not actually new, since it has been around since The Dawn of Time, but it will be new to us. Doing some number crunching to decide if we truly will save enough money to merit moving there and having to buy a W/D.

Avoided deadly tornado.

Friday Evening - AMAZING concert with the Nashville Symphony. I was literally on an emotional high after hearing James Ehnes perform Alban Berg's Concerto for Violin, composed in 1935 using Arnold Schoenberg's technique of 12-tone composition. The conductor was brilliant to give the cliff notes version of scales and tone rows before the performance, and he had individuals in the symphony play the original tone row and variations of it so we could digest it properly throughout the performance. The piece was originally created as a Requiem for Mahler's "step-daughter" (easiest way to describe it), but as the composition progressed, it became clear the the Requiem was also written to reflect milestones of the composer's life, as it was the last piece he would complete in his lifetime.

I am truly fascinated by composers who create their own requiems, and also at examining the final pieces completed by composers before what could only be their dramatic and untimely deaths. Composers are quite dramatic, after all. ;)

Saturday - Received junk mail from Furman Alumni Assn. offering me a credit card. Gasp and shock! Proceeded to write a sternly worded email to voice my complete outrage at receiving a credit card because of a connection with my alma mater. Ugh!

Rescued a co-worked from total isolation by picking him up at a bar - a convenient place for a car to break down - and earned myself a free beer!

It's been a busy week! I am so looking forward to cooking on the grill tonight, and celebrating Easter with another family tomorrow afternoon!

Thoughtful Reading

"Important events - whether serious, happy or unfortunate - do not change a man's soul, they merely bring it into relief, just as a strong gust of wind reveals the true shape of a tree when it blows off all its leaves. Such events highlight what is hidden in the shadows; they nudge the spirit towards a place where it can flourish. " -Suite Francais, Irene Nemirovsky

This quote is from the book I am currently reading, which is actually comprised of two books. The author intended to write a 5-part series about WWII and its great effects on the lives of the French people. She herself was a Jew living in Paris during the war, and she died tragically at Auschwitz. (*The level of impact of the events at Auschwitz are apparent even in the computer age, since the name of that particular concentration camp is recorded the the Blogger spell-check.) After lying undiscovered for 46 years, the books have been translated and edited by Sandra Smith.

It is intense reading, but the novel is worth every minute of study. The quote above captures the essence of the author's writing style and purpose in delivering this pair of novellas. Words like this stand the test of time and are relevant in any age.

Puppy!

This is a video of Lucy when she was a little pup - 8 or 9 weeks old, I think. She was ferocious even from the beginning! I'm actually posting this to test the waters of video-posting, but it doesn't hurt to try it with something adorable!

The Wonderful World of Reading

So I am a huge patron of libraries. I adore the concept that something in this world is free. I love that with a library card, any person can walk in, pick something up, walk out, and be all the better for it. I think one of the added benefits of libraries is the ability to place people on an equal footing. Even if you have the money, why buy something when you could borrow it for free? All that said, there are few things I find more thrilling than picking out a handful of books to sit and admire on your bookshelf while you wait for the perfect moment and mood in which to read them.

Chris and I took took full boxes of textbooks to McKay's Used Books on Charlotte Ave, and this is the coolest used bookstore I have ever seen!! They had about 8 people in the back of the store looking up trade-ins on the computer, and it only took about 30 minutes for us to hear about the small fortune of store credit they would give us in exchange for our books. This was a huge operation! Not only will I go there even in search of bargains and gifts, but I will never set foot in another used bookstore if I can help it. I've been in several where the trade-in value was minimal and the re-sell value too high to be worthwhile.

If you love to read, check out goodreads.com. I have an account there to keep track of what I read (so I don't have to remember), and to check out reviews from other people. There is even a way to mark reviews with Spoilers so you don't find out anything important before you've read the book.

Back in the Good Ol' Days

Chris and I were reminiscing on our way home tonight about the olden days when AIM was the thing to do. Not only was it the very first thing you do in the morning, but you spent hours during the day trying to remember inside jokes, compelling songs, interesting quotes, and funny things that happen throughout the day, in order to put them online for the friends who were there for the inside jokes, compelling songs, etc. In case you were in a coma 5 years ago, this is what most mornings looked like:

6:30 Snooze
6:40 Snooze
6:50 Snooze
7:00 Snooze
7:10 Snooze
7:20 Climb out of bed.
7:22 Turn computer on.
7:23 Check out who's already online (you didn't have to actually open AIM because it was set to open automatically, of course!).
7:24 Read away messages, most of which you read the night before for the final half hour before you went to bed.
7:40 Think up clever away message about being tired and late for class YET AGAIN.
7:53 Decide on the most clever away message and post it.
7:55 Throw on clothes, grab ponytail holder, and RUN to class.

This schedule was repeated in similar fashion throughout the day. You actually could not sit down at the computer again without posting a new away message, or adding to one (they get to be quite lengthy. You could probably use this blog post as an away message, come to think of it).

Those were the good times.

As much as I <3 Facebook, it really ruins the effect of the clever away message. Most Facebook Statuses are boring, unfulfilling, non-thought-provoking, and remarkably short.

What a shame.